hockey

This week, fans learned the details of the NHL’s plans to protect players who might have been concussed during games. But Len Boogaard, father of the late Derek Boogaard, thinks the effort is not enough. He joins Bill Littlefield to explain.

The Stanley Cup was donated by an Englishman to Canada back in 1892. But no Canadian team has brought home the Cup since 1993. Legendary NHL goalie and Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden joined Bill to discuss Canada’s hockey drought and the country’s other rivalries with the U.S.

The 2004 movie “Miracle” dramatizes the United States’ win over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics. In the film’s most famous scene, U.S. coach Herb Brooks, played by Kurt Russell, delivers a motivational pregame talk. But how accurate was that movie speech? Bill Littlefield tracks down some of the players who were in the locker room 35 years ago and finds a surprising answer.

In Ottawa, Jack Purcell Park proudly honors a local hero who repaired hockey equipment for neighborhood youths. But park officials had new sculptures installed to honor a legendary Canadian badminton champion, also named Jack Purcell. We do our best to sort out the confusion.

Nineteen-year-old Aaron Ekblad and 37-year-old Willie Mitchell are more than just NHL teammates. They’re roommates. Grantland’s Katie Baker tells Bill Littlefield how Ekblad came to live with Mitchell and his wife.

As the head coach of the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s women’s hockey team, Shannon Miller has led the team to five national championships. This December, she was told she would be let go at the end of the season for what the school calls “financial reasons.” Only A Game’s Dan Kraker reports.

Former hockey goalie Clint Malarchuk suffered a life-threatening injury in 1989 when his neck was slashed by a hockey skate. Off the ice, he’s struggled with mental health problems since childhood. He writes about both issues in his new book “A Matter of Inches,” which he joins Bill Littlefield to discuss.

The Edmonton Oilers currently sit dead last in the NHL. The Oilers also possess the league’s longest postseason drought — they haven’t made the playoffs since 2006, when they lost in seven games in the Stanley Cup Finals. Bill Littlefield speaks with John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal to find out what’s wrong with the Oilers.